The present invention is directed to communication systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for providing a monitoring service, e.g., a home monitoring service.
Households with two working parents are becoming more common in our society. Since both of the adults are out of the house for a substantial part of the day, it is becoming more challenging to take care of, and monitor the status of, loved ones, e.g., children and/or the elderly. Even when a child is old enough to be left alone in the house, a parent may wish to monitor the home environment so they know their child is safe.
One way families care for their loved ones is by hiring caretakers, e.g., nannies or nurses. Unfortunately, caretakers cannot always be trusted since there have been cases of baby-sitters abusing or otherwise improperly taking care of children. This leads to a desire to monitor new caretakers so parents can be reassured of the safety of their children. In addition, children may be uncomfortable with a stranger, and may desire the ability to quickly contact someone who is familiar, i.e., a parent.
Some answering machines known in the art allow homeowners to call their house, enter a password, and listen to the activity in their home. These machines may be used to listen to a new caretaker from a remote location, but there are certain desirable functions that are not met by the answering machine monitoring technique. For example, calling your answering machine and listening ties up the line. Therefore people at home are not able to make outgoing phone calls, e.g., xe2x80x9c911xe2x80x9d calls while the monitoring is ongoing. In addition, use of an answering machine as a simple listening device fails to produce a recording of ongoing activity which can be accessed subsequently. A record of activity in the home is useful when it is not possible to continuously listen to ongoing activity. This way the adult will not miss any important activity while they are away from a phone.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatus for a monitoring service that creates a record of activity that can be subsequently accessed at a user""s convenience and allows people in a home to make outgoing phone calls. From a convenience and safety standpoint it is desirable that a monitoring service not prevent calls, e.g., emergency xe2x80x9c911xe2x80x9d calls, being made from the monitored residence.
The present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for providing a monitoring service, e.g., for monitoring a child or an elderly parent from a remote location.
The system of the present invention includes a speakerphone and monitoring device having recording/playback capabilities, which is coupled to the speakers. The speakerphone is located at the area to be monitored, and is coupled to the recording/playback device by, e.g., a conventional telephone line and telephone switch. The recording/playback device may be, e.g., a peripheral device which is coupled to the telephone switch. In the context of the present application, a speakerphone is to be interpreted broadly and includes, e.g., telephony devices which can be used without a handset and/or are capable of receiving and transmitting audio signals present in a room without the need to speak directly into a handset.
The method of the present invention includes operating the monitoring device, e.g., an intelligent peripheral (IP) device coupled to the telephone switch, to receive a first telephone call from a speakerphone. The calling party is identified and verified, e.g., by checking a personal identification number (PIN) and a password, entered by the calling party, against stored information. Then, the calling party leaves the speakerphone off the hook, and continues on with their day. Next, the IP begins monitoring by recording audio signals received from the speakerphone.
In some embodiments the IP may offer the calling party a list of service options, such as leaving a personal message to be played at times designated by the calling party, or playing a list of prerecorded messages, e.g. songs and/or stories, that the calling party can choose from, and which will be played at times designated by the calling party.
While monitoring the first call for sounds, the IP also monitors for DTMF tones and/or speech indicating an attempt to make a call. If the IP receives DTMF tones or speech corresponding to a phone number, the IP will initiate a call to the phone number and bridge the initiated call with the first call. When the called party terminates the initiated call, e.g., by hanging up, the IP terminates the initiated call. The first call remains active and the IP continues monitoring the first call. In some embodiments the IP may stop the recording of sounds from the first line during the time the initiated and first calls are bridged.
At a time following initiation of the first call, the IP may receive a second telephone call, placed by the monitoring service subscriber, from a telephony device other than the speakerphone. At this time the calling party is given a plurality of service options. For example, the IP can play back the recordings of the audio signals received from the speakerphone, the IP can bridge the second and first calls so the calling party can monitor the first call in real time, the IP can record personal messages left from the calling party and receive times, e.g., a day and time, at which the message should be played. In addition, the caller can select from a list of prerecorded messages, e.g., songs and/or stories, which are to be played via the speakerphone at times specified by the caller.